


Empress' Cornucopia

by smallpudge



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M, Feeding Kink, Stuffing, Weight Gain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 03:15:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19054132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallpudge/pseuds/smallpudge
Summary: Haru has invited her friends to a two-month island summer trip.  It's the perfect opportunity for them to swim and play under the sun!It's also the perfect opportunity for them to be her taste testers as she develops a menu for her dream cafe.  They don't mind, right?Four weeks into their island escape, Ryuji realizes someone really needs to talk to Haru about the taste testing part, since she seems to be blind to the effects it's having on them.





	Empress' Cornucopia

**Author's Note:**

> there's a post on tumblr about unintentional feeders being oblivious to them contributing to the weight gain of people around them... Haru and all the other Phantom Thieves instantly came to mind.

“Hey, Haru–-! Here you are. Shoulda known.”  
  
“Oh, Ryuji-kun!” Haru beamed at her friend from her workstation at the counter where she was using a knife to cut up a fresh batch of brownies, looking absolutely domestic in a kitchen that both was designed to look down-to-earth and that Ryuji would guess had easily cost more than a few entire  _houses_  back in Tokyo to deck out. Rich people were crazy. But sometimes in a good way. Haru was treating all her friends to an island vacation for the entire two months of summer break, after all. “You’re right on time! I took some critique from Ren and Futaba and fine-tuned the recipe. What do you think?”  
  
“Uh–-oomph,” Ryuji grunted, finding his mouth suddenly full of a piece of brownie that Haru had popped in. His surprise turned into pleasure as he chewed. The brownie was still warm and gooey with melted chocolate inside, and while the last batch had been nice, they’d had enough sugar to make his teeth hurt. Haru had obviously reduced the sweetness this time, while still keeping all the taste. “S'awesome.”  
  
“I’m so glad! Would you like another piece? And I could get you some milk, to help wash it down–-”  
  
Before he could swallow the piece in his mouth, Haru had already fetched a plate and mug from the cupboards. He watched her deftly use the knife to place not one, but  _three_  pieces on the plate, and remembered exactly why he’d been looking for her. “Haru-–” He swallowed the brownie. “We, uh, can I talk to you about something?”  
  
“Of course, anything!” She looked up at him with a smile that could make plants grow.  
  
And with a knife still in her hands. “Uhm, we can talk about it in the dining room.” He wasn’t actually fussy about where he ate, but Haru could be a little scary even without sharp objects. Depending on how she took what he was going to say, he’d prefer the knife being out of sight.  
  
“Oh, all right.” She fetched the milk from the refrigerator and poured the mug nearly full–-he really should have stopped her sooner, but his throat felt thick with brownie now and he was craving something to wash it down, so he just took the plate and mug and trotted after her and her cup of coffee into the dining room, where they sat side-by-side at a table that could easily seat twenty. “Don’t be afraid to tell me if you think there’s anything I could improve on the brownies. It’s a recipe I’m considering for the cafe menu, so I’m open to any criticism whatsoever!”  
  
Man, Haru was really revving into high-gear about the cafe she wanted to open after she graduated university. Ryuji loved seeing her passion, but he hoped she was open to criticism in other areas, too. He definitely didn’t have any complaints about this batch, so he just grinned at her, taking a swig of milk to clear his throat. “Nah, no complaints here. You’re an amazing cook. But…” He braced himself. “Maybe you’re a little too good?”  
  
Haru giggled, setting her loose brown curls into motion. “Why thank you!”  
  
“No, I’m. Actually kind of serious, Haru.”  
  
“Huh?” Her giggles quieting, the young woman opened her eyes to look at him more closely, and her smile dimmed. “Oh, you are. What exactly do you mean by that, then?”  
  
His friend’s sudden flat tone made Ryuji very glad they’d left the knife in the other room. Even with it gone he felt the urge to laugh off the tension and tell her no, of course he’d been joking. “It ain’t! A bad thing!” He scooped a brownie off his plate and shoved it in his mouth to show her. He had absolutely nothing against her culinary skills! He’d eat the entire brownie pan and lick it clean if it’d make Haru happy! -–That would completely go against the conversation he needed to have with her. Ryuji drank some more milk and tried to focus on how cold it was so he’d cool down himself. He needed to focus.  _Someone_  needed to have this conversation with Haru, before things got more out of hand. “Really, your food is phenomenal, Haru. I love it. Everyone loves it. That’s-–that'swhywe'reallgettin'fat.”  
  
“What?”  
  
Now that the words were out, no matter how badly he’d garbled them, Ryuji found it easier to say. “We’re gettin’ fat, Haru. Look at this.” He’d taken to wandering the resort they had to themselves (rich people were  _wild_ ) in his swim trunks so that he could run to the beach and cannonball in the water any time he wanted. That made it easy for him to pinch an inch of the flab above the waistband and shake it at her.  
  
Haru sighed, a sympathetic smile on her face. “No, you’re not fat at all. Mona-chan didn’t say something mean, did he?”  
  
“Nah. Mona ain’t got room to talk, anyway.” Though in Mona’s case, it was his own damn fault he was chunking up. The little furbag with a human mind and cat tastes had combined his claws with tricks he’d learned from watching Ren fish at the pond in Tokyo to become a cold-blooded killer of the sea. ‘It’s almost scary how good I am!’ he’d crow before trotting off with a fish half his size still wriggling in his mouth. Which, honestly? Actually was pretty impressive, but was also giving him a blobby kitty tummy. Ren had already told Mona he was going on a dry food diet once they were back in Tokyo, though that seemed a little hypocritical, considering Ren–-  
  
That thought brought Ryuji’s mind back on track. Right. Haru. Haru and all the ways she liked to spoil her friends, in this case the human ones. “I know I ain’t  _fat_ , fat. But you can’t say I’m not getting a little out-of-shape.”  
  
“I think you look fine,” Haru told him, a very diplomatic response that would have made him snort had it come from anyone else. Haru actually meant the saccharinely sweet things she said. She was, like, someone’s little old sweet grandma, reincarnated.  
  
“I can look fine and still be getting out-of-shape. And I know it ain’t just me. Makoto was  _freaking out_  the other morning when her shorts didn’t fit, remember?” Ryuji had heard her panicked yelling all the way from the other side of the lodge they were using. The brunette was pear-shaped, and her white ruffled bikini made it clear that she had just a sliver of fat on her belly and some new jiggle to her thighs, but at first it had tried to conceal the real target of her weight gain: her butt, full and just starting to sag the tiniest bit. At this point, though, it looked big no matter what she wore, and apparently it had made some things plain impossible to wear.  
  
“Her shorts shrank, Ryuji-kun,” Haru said firmly, like she hadn’t noticed any of her friend’s physical changes at all. Which, fair enough, she probably didn’t get distracted by girls’ butts like Ryuji did, but–-  
  
“You really think the staff at this fancy resort don’t know how to do laundry?” he asked incredulously. That got Haru to pause mid-sip of whatever expensive brew she was drinking. Encouraged, the blond pressed his point. “And Ann–-there’s no way you can miss her rack–-”  
  
“Would you like to reconsider your phrasing?” Haru asked, reminding Ryuji that there were the sharpest knives money could buy in the next room.  
  
He froze. He tried to start again, but it was hard to figure out a polite phrasing for just how Ann had packed half a dozen bikini tops and her boobs now overflowed every last one, threatening to jiggle out every time she went swimming. Her bottoms were faring a bit better, her rear not quite as big as Makoto’s, but her hips were fleshing out, giving her less and less string to tie them shut. Honestly? Even if Ryuji had somehow fallen out of love with running, he would have made sure to go down to the beach every day just to catch Ann swimming and stretching and doing all those light exercises that kept her somewhat toned but did nothing to burn off all the calories she ate and drank back at the lodge. It was like… he could probably say that out loud. “It’s like she’s an hourglass, 'cept she’s full of sugar instead of sand, and since she’ll never turn down taste-testing for your cafe menu, she’s just…” Ryuji mimed an hourglass shape with his hands, then mimed a curvier one. A  _much_  curvier one. “Filling up with sugar. Honestly, I think it looks good on her.” He was kind of sad that he was pretty sure Ann would get more serious about her diet and exercise the second Mika made a catty remark back home. If it had just been Ann filling out her tops, he probably wouldn’t be trying to talk with Haru at all. But she was a really good example of what seemed to be happening to everyone. No resistance to Haru’s offerings. Never saying no to food full of sugar, fat, or both. “…I guess Yusuke looks better, too. Can’t count his ribs anymore.” Though it’d still been a shock the one time he’d finally discarded his thin hoodie to go swimming, coaxed by everyone else, and Ryuji realized the artist was actually fleshed out a little, no longer a stick. The island’s change of scenery had put Yusuke in an art mood that often kept him in his own world, but half the times Ryuji had checked on him to make sure he wasn’t high on paint fumes he’d been eating with one hand, even while sketching or painting sometimes. Yusuke had always had a tendency to mindlessly graze, and Haru seemed to be happy to keep him topped off with something to drink and jagariko or other hand snacks that he could crunch away on.  
  
Haru was frowning. Yeah, even though he was trying to soften it, she clearly didn’t like this talk. “I would hope you don’t have any complaints about someone underweight actually eating.”  
  
“I mean…he’s kind of not underweight anymore, though. And yeah, it’s good he’s not, but there’s healthier ways to put on weight–like, oh man, Futaba. Boss is gonna freak.”  
  
“He will not,” Haru said frigidly. Okay, yeah, Ryuji had phrased that badly, and he needed to get the evidence to back himself up, quick, before she started thinking knives. He yanked his phone out of his swim trunks’ pocket, browsing through his photo gallery.  
  
“Okay, this is us, four weeks ago, start of summer break,” he said, pulling up a group photo. They’d been on the ship to the island. Ren was the only one not in frame, always first to volunteer as photographer for big group photos. Ryuji pulled up a second picture, taken three days ago. “This is us now.” Ren had been the photographer again. They really needed to look into getting a stand for timed shots so he could be in more group pictures in the future, though Ryuji kind of wondered now if maybe Ren didn’t want to be in frame, since… He didn’t like that thought, frowning and pushing it aside. “Us then. Us now.” He toggled between the two pictures, then looked up at his friend to make sure she was getting the point. She was the only one in frame who wasn’t obviously chubbier. “Haru. Futaba didn’t have that belly a month ago.”  
  
Futaba was really intense when she critiqued Haru’s food. The first review had been less-than-stellar, and Ryuji had started cringing halfway into the socially inept girl simultaneously panning the recipe and interrogating Haru on her process, certain that Haru would take offense and there’d be a fight only two days into a two-month long vacation. But then he’d seen Haru’s expression.  
  
She  _loved_  the way Futaba would be brutally honest, nitpicking everything she didn’t like and dissecting steps to figure out where exactly she thought Haru had gone wrong so that the new and enthusiastic chef/baker could improve her next attempt. Honestly, if Futaba hadn’t ripped apart that first attempt, Haru might not have jumped into the cooking and baking kick of the past four weeks. …Thinking about that, maybe it was also Futaba’s fault they were all getting pudgy. But Futaba hadn’t been left out of the weight gain. If anything, she was at its forefront. Haru needed a taste tester and didn’t have one in sight? She already knew Futaba gave the most useful reviews and was likely to be in the girls’ room, the geek glued to her laptop unless someone pried her away. (Yusuke also tended to stay in one place for hours, making him the second easiest of the group to find, but the spot changed from day-to-day, he sometimes went wandering from random art moods, and the only critique he would ever give food was related to how traditional it was and the way it was plated, making him much less useful for Haru’s purposes.) Futaba might not have gained much more than Ann, but the weight looked much heavier on Futaba's shorter and smaller frame.  Completely opposite of Ann, Futaba hadn't gained much in her chest or butt at all. She was definitely apple-shaped, and seemed pretty self-conscious about it considering she'd started doing like Yusuke and wearing thin hoodies that mostly hid her gooey potbelly.  Mostly.  Even with a hoodie on it was still obvious she was thicker in the second picture, especially since it did nothing to hide her thickening chin and puffy cheeks.  
  
Haru had gone quiet as she studied the two pictures. It seemed to be finally clicking for her. “I…suppose Futaba-chan has gained weight very quickly, and most of what she’s eaten here comes from me,” she admitted. “However–” Oh, great, a  _however_ – “Ren’s been eating about the same, and I don’t think he’s gained any weight this vacation.”  
  
Was she serious. “Are you  _serious_ ,” Ryuji blurted, because his mouth was never that far behind his brain.  Sometimes it was ahead.  
  
“What? He hasn’t.”  
  
Ryuji just barely kept himself from blurting out a 'for eff's sake’ and settled for furiously scrolling through his phone’s photo gallery instead. While Ren was notorious for being absent from group photos and was never interested in having pictures of him alone taken, he wouldn’t say no to a picture taken with a friend. Ryuji knew he had plenty of pics of him and Ren from when they were Phantom Thieves. “Haru, if anything, Ren is the ultimate proof that maybe you like feedin’ people too much. This is how he used to look, remember? All skinny and like maybe he could be a model or somethin’? And then when you guys started dating, that was the same time–” There was a sound, but Ryuji was too caught up ranting to notice. “The  _same_  exact time he started blowing up and got fat.”  
  
That was the comment that finally got him hit. Haru elbowed him, sharp enough to make him double over, with her eyes on the doorway. “Sugar, please don’t beat Ryuji up for being honest,” Ren’s voice said, amused. “I was starting to think everyone had gone blind. Well, except Yusuke. Yusuke told me when I got fat right off the bat.”  
  
Yeah, that sounded like Yusuke. Observant and blunt, too oblivious to social cues to get embarrassed. Ryuji on the other hand now felt mortified, slowly lifting his head to see that yes, the friend whose weight gain he’d just described as “blowing up” had walked in right in time to hear that. “Sorry. Ren, I-–”  
  
Ren waved off his attempt at an apology before giving his belly a thump.  It wobbled under the roomy t-shirt covering it, and even though it didn't look any bigger from four weeks ago to Ryuji, it was a lot bigger than it'd been a year ago, starting to hang over his shorts. “I’m fat. Go ahead and say it, I don’t care.  _Unless_ ,” he squinted at Ryuji and Haru suspiciously, and then turned to Haru. “You think I need to go on a diet?”  
  
“No, no!” Haru said quickly. “I don’t think you need to change anything. There’s brownies in the kitchen, Ren. Tell me how I did this time, please?”  
  
He grinned. “With pleasure. I was wondering what that smell was.” And he walked off to the brownies, seeming immune to the stiff and increasingly awkward silence he was leaving behind.  
  
Haru took a silent and yet somehow clearly upset sip of her coffee while Ryuji tried to figure out how to get his foot out of his mouth before he spent the second month of his summer break in a fight with his friend and host. “Look, I’m sorry,” he said after a minute. “Maybe I went too far and I’ve been talking out of my ass. It–-kind of seemed like a weird pattern, especially since I thought it was just a thing you and Ren had before, but even if you offer it’s  _our_  fault for accepting. It’s totally my fault I’m getting out of shape. So since I’m bad with temptation, could you make it a little easier to say no? These brownies are great, but I really shouldn’t eat them all.” He nudged the plate with two brownies away from him, because as delicious as he knew they’d be, four brownies was too many to be snacking on regularly.  
  
He glanced at Haru. Hopefully she’d take this approach a little better? Since yeah, it really wasn’t her fault, she just…happened to contribute. Heavily. Makoto and Futaba would have to have their own conversations with her if they didn’t like how chunky they were getting. Ren clearly didn’t have any problems with it–- “Ryuji-kun,” Haru said slowly. “What do you mean, a thing Ren and I had?”  
  
Oh. Oh no. Him and his stupid mouth. He quickly shook his head.  "I didn’t really mean to say that.”  
  
“But you did. So what did you mean?”  
  
“Look, if you don’t kill me for explaining what a fetish is, Ren or Makoto probably will. I like living.”  
  
“Oh. No, I know what fetishes are,” Haru said, a statement that made Ryuji seize up all over again with the certainty that he had another elbow incoming for suggesting she might have fattened Ren up, not just on purpose, but for perverted purposes. She’d said it quite calmly, but you could never be sure with Haru.  
  
But another minute passed in silence, Ren apparently more interested in brownies than socializing for now. His shirt had looked damp–-he’d probably just come from the beach and chatting with at least Ann, and whoever else was down there. Haru finally looked up from the table.  
  
“So…that can be a fetish. Feeding people? Or is it people getting fat?”  
  
“Uh.” They were still firmly in the realm of topics Ryuji didn’t want to discuss with Haru for fear that someone would accuse him of being a pervert and corrupting her, never mind her being the older one, so his brain was flailing. “Either? And both, I guess? I’m not too sure about it, they ain’t actually  _my_  thing. Just–-the internet’s a weird, wild place, Haru. Nearly as weird as the Metaverse.” Just as many dick monsters.  
  
“I’ll have to look for myself later,” Haru said in her sweet, polite voice, absolutely blowing the fuses on Ryuji’s mind because what?? What dark internet hole was she about to jump down, and he’d pointed her to it?? And while he was still struggling with that, she stood from her seat, grabbing the plate he’d pushed away. “Thank you, Ryuji-kun!” she said, and she actually sounded like she meant it.  
  
“What?”  
  
“I think I learned something about myself today!”  
  
“Hwa?” Ryuji asked as Haru disappeared into the kitchen, his brain so broken that basic speech was turning impossible. The exchange he could hear from the adjacent room didn’t help.  
  
“Ren, are you hungry? I’d like to try something.”  
  
“You mean you’ve got something else for me to try? These are great, by the way.”  
  
“Mm, not another food… This may sound strange, but I’d like you to try…I want to see…if you could…”  
  
Their voices went too quiet for Ryuji to keep listening, especially since he wasn’t really trying to hear so much as letting sound wash over him while he tried to catch up on exactly what kind of revelation he’d just given Haru. He was not really prepared to see Haru march back out of the kitchen still holding the plate of two brownies while Ren followed her, carrying both the entire tray of brownies and the jug of milk. That was way too much for just the two of them.  
  
He wasn’t sure Haru was planning on eating.  
  
“Okay,” Ren said, slowing down just a smidge to talk to Ryuji. “ _Now_  I’m pretty curious what you two were talking about. But thanks. I wasn’t sure how to bring it up to her.”  
  
“Uh.”  
  
Ren took a look at Ryuji’s dumbfounded expression and grinned. “I’m gonna guess this was one of your 'accidental genius’ moments? Not planned?”  
  
“…Yeah…?” He wasn’t sure he’d call this genius? What had he done.  
  
“You’re great at those. Catch you later.”  
  
Ryuji sat at the table for a little while after Haru and Ren had left, letting his brain slowly reboot until he realized what Ren had been wanting to bring up with Haru and what they were probably doing right that minute. Then he shut his brain off again and wandered down to the beach and into the shallows. On the sand, Yusuke was painting a landscape, though oddly enough it seemed to be jungle- and not beach-inspired; Makoto was sweating as she went through aikido exercises, her thighs and ass jiggling with every kick. In the water, Ann was languidly kicking herself around on a floatie, tugging on one bikini strap in an attempt to make her top hold her boobs better. Clearly in vain, but Ryuji appreciated her effort and how it made her chest bounce. She caught him looking after a few minutes and Ryuji quickly dove down beneath the surface to escape scolding. After a couple of lazy hours, Haru and Ren emerged from the lodge to join everyone, though they were content to stay on the beach in lounge chairs rather than swim.  Ren didn't look like he could have managed a swim; he'd let Haru guide him over to the chairs while he nearly stumbled over his own feet.  Though clearly tired and drowsy, Ren looked just as smug as Morgana had the day he’d caught red sea bream, and his stomach as bloated as the cat’s after he’d devoured nearly everything but the tail and bone. It was huge. Haru gently rubbed the sliver of stuffed belly that his shirt could suddenly no longer cover.  
  
Ryuji took one look at them, then plunged himself down into the water again. How the second month of their vacation would go was totally beyond him now. He’d just hope that now that Haru had had her revelation, maybe she’d stop feeding  _everyone_  and he could get back in shape for the university track team in fall.


End file.
